Leather Industry and Exports

Introduction

Leather is one of the most widely traded commodities globally. The growth in demand for leather is driven by the fashion industry, especially footwear. Apart from this, furniture and interior design industries, as well as the automotive industry also demand leather. The leather industry has a place of prominence in the Indian economy due to substantial export earnings and growth.

The Indian leather industry accounts for around 12.93 per cent of the world’s leather production of hides/skins.

Export highlights

India’s leather industry has grown drastically, transforming from a mere raw material supplier to a value-added product exporter.

• Total leather good exports from India stood at US$ 1.36 billion during 2017-18.
• During 2017-18, the major markets for Indian leather products were US (24.48 per cent), Germany (14.76 per cent), UK (10.94 per cent), Italy (5.82 per cent), Spain (5.87 per cent), France (5.07 per cent), Netherlands (4.86 per cent), Australia (3.41 per cent), UAE (3.10 per cent) and Denmark (2.59 per cent).
• In 2017-18, leather footwear component, leather garments and finished leather exports stood at US$ 340 million, US$ 519 million and US$ 874 million respectively

COUNCIL FOR LEATHER EXPORTS

The Council for Leather Exports (CLE) is an autonomous non-profit organisation, which is entrusted with export promotion activities and the development of the Indian leather industry. About 3,500 companies manufacturing/exporting leather and leather products are members of the Council.